Before It's Too Late: Reach Out to Parents of High-Risk Students with an Effective Parent Liaison Program
A proven model for giving parents the confidence--and the information they need --to help their children succeed NOW AVAILABLE ON CD-ROM LISTEN NOW! >>
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SNAPSHOT: If only their parents had known they were in trouble, it might have made the difference in keeping them from dropping out, said 71% of dropouts in the 2006 landmark report, "Silent Epidemic." If only schools had kept in better contact, the students said, their parents might have been able to keep them on track with schoolwork and attendance and to persuade them to make the smart choice and stay in school. Research continues to show the important role parental involvement plays in student achievement, but few schools take advantage of this simple strategy for motivating and engaging their students. CD-ROM with instant access
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Questions? Call 207-632-1954. | In this a 90-minute webinar with Dr. Mavis Sanders, co-author of School, Family and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, and Jean Lewis, district coordinator for school, family and community partnerships in Howard County, Maryland, on how to implement a parent liaison program to reach out to families. Sanders and Lewis describe how one award-winning parent liaison program in an ethnically and socioeconomically diverse district helped parents become true partners in their children's education. Too often schools' good intentions to increase parental involvement don't get much beyond parent-teacher conferences. And the parents of students who are of greatest concern never seem to participate. The two speakers will describe how part-time, trained parent liaisons work with teachers and school-based partnership teams to reach families of students who need the most help. They also will provide ideas on how to implement a successful outreach program with more limited resources.
It's a myth that many parents of high-risk students aren't interested in being involved in their children's educations. They just feel that they have no way in--no access point--to their child's school, according to a just-released study of more than 1,000 parents, sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Topics to be covered in the 90-minute audioconference/webinar on how to engage parents in their children's educations include: - How to select and train good parent liaisons
- How to build relationships with parents.
- How to design inclusive partnership activities to serve all students and families
- How to organize around goals to promote parent-school interactions
- How to use data to provide services that can help families better support learning
Sanders and Lewis also will discuss how to structure your comprehensive family engagement program around six types of parent-school involvement developed by Joyce L. Epstein, of Johns Hopkins University's Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships. The six types of involvement are: - Parenting--Assisting families with parenting skills and home conditions to support children as students and helping schools better understand families
- Communicating--building two-way communication between home and school about children's progress
- Volunteering--recruiting and organizing volunteers
- Learning at home--assisting families in helping students at home with homework and making decisions about classes and activities
- Decision-making--including parents in school decisions and developing parent leaders
- Collaborating with the community--identifying and integrating resources and services from the community to support schools, students and families.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS: Mavis Sanders, Ph.D in education from Stanford University, holds a joint appointment as a research scientist at the Center for the Social Organization of Schools, and associate professor in the School of Education at Johns Hopkins University. Her most recent book, co-authored with Dr. Steven Sheldon, is Principals Matter: A Guide to Comprehensive Programs of School, Family, and Community Partnerships It will be published by Corwin Press in spring 2009. Jean West Lewis is the District Coordinator for School, Family, and Community Partnerships in Howard County, Maryland. She coordinates the county's family involvement liaison program and is a district award-winning member of the National Network of Partnership Schools at Johns Hopkins University. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS My school district only pays by purchase order. Do you accept POs?
Yes. You may fax the PO to 815-461-5647 or call us at 207-632-1954. For more information about ordering with a PO, click here. Can I ship the CD-ROM to other district offices so that they can watch and listen at a later date?
Please limit use of the CD-ROM to staff in one office.
CONTACT INFO: Educational Research Newsletter
PO Box 2347
South Portland, ME 04116
Tel: 207-632-1954
Fax: 815-461-5647 | 
